


How you wish it would be all the time

by thegoddessinzerogravity



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Episode: s03e04 The Antilles Extraction, F/F, Femslash February, other characters mentioned but not enough to warrant tagging them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-12 23:06:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13557498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoddessinzerogravity/pseuds/thegoddessinzerogravity
Summary: After breaking out of the Imperial Academy for the second time in her life, Sabine seeks out Ketsu.





	How you wish it would be all the time

**Author's Note:**

> Minor warning for description of injuries, I guess? Nothing graphic.

After they'd run away together, Sabine climbing into Ketsu's bed had become almost routine.

Ketsu couldn't find it in herself to tell the other girl to stop, or that it was irritating to have to share an already small space with another person- not when Sabine was burdened with nightmares almost every night, and still struggling with the weight of her family's abandonment. If having another person to hold at night helped her cope, she could hardly deny her that small comfort.

This felt different, though. After their escape from the Academy, they'd both still been young enough that sharing a bed was relatively innocent. But now they were older, and Ketsu was finding it a little awkward to slip straight back into that old habit. Apparently not Sabine, who'd knocked on her door half an hour ago, prominent bags under her eyes, and asked if she could stay the night. 

It _was_ awkward, but also sort of nice. She'd missed Sabine. She'd missed this.

"So," Ketsu said to Sabine's back. "Skystrike Academy? I assume that's why we're doing this again."

The outline of Sabine's shoulder shrugged in the dim light of Ketsu's room. "I don't know. Maybe." Ketsu couldn't see her hands from where she was laying, but she could imagine them clenching like they did when she was struggling to express herself. "I felt weird, just sitting alone in my room. I didn't feel like I could talk to anyone else about it."

"Not even your friends on the Ghost?" Ketsu had been under the impression that Sabine was close to all of them. Maybe she'd been wrong. Sabine huffed in frustration. "It's not that I can't talk to them when I need it. That whole mission, being back at the Academy. I didn't think it was going to affect me, but now that I'm back here, it just feels . . ."

"Weird." 

She felt more than heard Sabine's hum of agreement.

Sabine shifted her position slightly, and her shirt moved with her enough for Ketsu to catch sight of the mottled bruises across her back. She extracted one hand from the blankets to touch them, but stopped just before she could actually make contact with her skin. "What happened here?"

She knew that Sabine's breakout couldn't have been flawless, but seeing proof right in front of her was a little jarring. 

"My first escape failed. I had to take a couple punches to get the defectors out. They'll heal." Ketsu's fingers gently traced all the way up to where the worst of the damage was, her left shoulder. The bruised skin was so dark in places the purple was almost black, and she internally winced in sympathy.

The Sabine she'd run away with would have been tense and unhappy letting Ketsu see and touch so much unarmored skin, not nearly as relaxed as the woman in front of her now.

And that version of Ketsu probably would have jabbed at her shoulder anyway, just to see if she could get a reaction out of her.

She couldn't imagine going back to the Imperial Academy, under any circumstances. She also couldn't have imagined that the younger, more broken version of Sabine that she'd run away with all that time ago would be capable of that kind of bravery.

She finished her inspection of Sabine's back, and cautiously, not wanting to ruin her chance, draped her arm over her waist. Sabine didn't pull away. Ketsu felt a rush of relief, and then a stab of embarrassment. _What are you so nervous about? She came to you. She can't kick you out of your own room for being too forward._

. . . What _did_ Sabine want from coming to her like this? If all she really wanted was someone to talk to, Ketsu could provide that for her. But she had other friends to talk to, and she didn't _have_ to come to her like this.

For a moment, Ketsu let her imagination wander, to where Sabine rolled over so she was facing her in the narrow bed, lifted her hands to Ketsu's face, and-

She was snapped back to reality by Sabine starting to speak again. "We did another mission with the Academy once, a long time ago, but we sent Ezra in instead. I don't think I would have been able to do it back then."

Ketsu didn't respond. After a couple seconds of internally berating herself for being too distracted by her imagination, she said "And you could handle going back now?"

"Yeah." Pressed as close together as they were, she couldn't fail to notice Sabine leaning even closer against her. Ketsu closed her eyes, and rested her forehead against Sabine's back. "Are you gonna fall asleep here?"

"Probably. Unless you want me to go?"

Ketsu pulled her arm tighter around Sabine's waist. "No, I think this is good."

**Author's Note:**

> It's still technically Femslash February. It's still technically Femslash February. It's still technically F
> 
> I wanted to post this two weeks ago, but college is difficult and I couldn't get it out on time, oops.
> 
> I'm always a bit unsure about how I characterize Ketsu, since she's on the actual show so little, but I really wanted to write something for this pairing.
> 
> Feedback and comments are always really appreciated! (Also, I remade my tumblr, @wednesdayoceans, if you want to follow me.)


End file.
